Guest writer Tim Carr looks at Steve Nash’s NBA career and its impact on his life, following Nash’s season, and possibly career, ending injury

This article was written by Tim Carr. Tim is a writer, drummer, dad, amateur dog walker, Ramones fan, owner of fantasy hoops team called “DURANt DURANt” and is still wearing a Sixers Elton Brand jersey like it’s brand new. Follow him on Twitter at @Tim_Carr.

When Stephen John Nash broke into the NBA in 1996, I think I was in the majority of folks who said something like “HEYGREAT! STEVENASH! WAIT, WHAT, WHO?”

18 years later, the Los Angeles Lakers announced Steve Nash will be out for the entire 2014-15 NBA season, effectively ending his career. At this point, I am also in the majority of folks who say “STEVENASH! What an all time great!”

I imagine there will be pieces in the coming days, coming weeks, coming months that will go into Steve’s career, his stats, his effect on the league. For me, Steve Nash was one of those guys who was so unselfish, putting his teammates’ stats before his own. He was a guy who would play sick, beaten, bruised, and literally, bloody.

Nash started his career in 1996, but I think he got on my radar around 1998-99, after Phoenix had given up on him (for the time being), and Steve started making waves in Dallas who had traded for him. With Dirk Nowitzki, they were winning games, being all stars, making Western Conference finals together, and all the while…both of them rocked those Prince Valiant haircuts.

Nash eventually returned to Phoenix, won two straight MVP awards and went on to elite NBA superstardom, providing leadership and plenty of wins for a very fun-to-watch Suns team. In 2012 he joined the Lakers in 2012, and the story could certainly end that way.

My Steve Nash fandom reached an all time peak at another time…when in 2010, my at-the-time two-year-old son had really taken to enjoying the NBA. It was the only thing he’d sit and watch. His first favorite player was Kobe, and I subsequently ran a very elaborate intervention on him to try and get him to like someone, ANYONE. else. It didn’t take long for him to have a new favorite. The 2010 playoffs featured a Steve Nash who was scoring, assisting, leading, working hard, and all the while…doing this with one eye swollen shut after a Tim Duncan elbow made its way to Steve’s face. He was doing all of this with a swollen face and just one working eye.

I was watching thinking “How is Steve still doing all of this?” meanwhile my two-year-old, who was already a Nashfan, had become a Nash FANATIC. He asked for a Nash shirtsey, which he wore proudly. And you know how two and three-year-olds like bed time stories like “Curious George” and “Goodnight Moon?” Well not my little guy — this was his nightly bedtime story:

Flashforward to the last couple of seasons. Steve got rid of that bowl haircut, moved to Los Angeles, and played for the Lakers, where we saw some moments of his greatness in the abbreviated minutes he was playing. However at this point, this warrior’s body had started to turn on him, and injuries had started to keep him off the court. Then came last Thursday night around 11:30pm when I saw the news that Steve Nash was going to be shut down for what he’dalready announced to be his final season. A quiet way to go for a guy that played like a lion for so many years.

My son is now six years old and immediately looks for Steve Nash when the Lakers are out there playing, and LOVED it at draft time when that “Steve Nash to Philly” rumor was kicking around. Steve was the first athlete that my son and I equally enjoyed and bonded over while watching; we respected the way he played the game, the way he scientifically studied his own teammates so he could adjust his game to suit their strengths. We loved the way he’d always look to create opportunities on the court, but it does also show, that these tendencies, these unselfish attitudes, are appreciated. Best of luck to Steve Nash on his next journey; I’ll now do all I can to try to get my son to follow my fandom of Elton Brand!